8 Tasting Notes

I was really hoping for a nicely minty black tea out of this, but it didn’t deliver. Rather than a nice minty taste, it had a somewhat overpowering too-sweet artificial mint-like flavour. It was a bit candy-like, and this borderline sickly sweetness dominated the tea. It was less like drinking a flavoured black tea and more like having a hot sweet drink that happened to also have a bit of tea in it.

It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t an enjoyable tea either. The ingredients seem a little misleading and are disappointing in this case as it doesn’t taste much like a black tea with peppermint.

I like this, though I have a few mixed feelings about it. I don’t tend to do iced teas as I prefer cold brews, but this one is actually quite nice as an iced tea. It has just a little of that hibiscus tartness, but it actually seems to work fairly well in this with the passionfruit flavour. It also reminds me a bit of grapefruit as well with the tartness. It has a sweet-tart taste that comes off as nicely refreshing when chilled. It does have a little bit of that fake chemical sweetness of added flavouring to it which I don’t like, but it is not as overpowering as it is in many flavoured teas. It verges on being almost too sickeningly artificially sweet to drink, but I find myself enjoying it on hot days when thirsty.

I’m very particular about jasmine teas, but this one is definitely the best I have ever had.

First, it’s an absolutely beautiful tea. The pearls are exceptional and whole, and they unfurl into beautiful full leaves with no broken or loose particles. I don’t use any kind of infuser for this tea, simply put the pearls into a glass cup or thermos. Watching these pearls unfold and not having to worry about drinking any broken leaf bits makes this tea an aesthetic delight.

However, pretty tea doesn’t necessarily make good tea, but in this case, it lives up to its looks. It’s a very mild jasmine tea, not something so artificially or heavily perfumed that it no longer tastes like tea. Rather, the jasmine compliments the tea itself and is more of a background undercurrent – it’s something you taste in the body of the tea, which makes it feel like more a natural part of the tea, not something that is heavily overlaying it or dominating it.

It resteeps very well. I just pour more hot water into my cup/thermos when it’s nearly empty. I haven’t really tried the usual Western brewing method with this tea, but I imagine it would be very similar. It’s definitely a tea worth trying in a manner that allows you to enjoy the beauty of leaves as you drink it though.

I wish this one tasted as good and strong as it smells. I absolutely love the smell of both the dry leaves and especially of the brewed tea. The tea smells like a low burning campfire, and I just love holding a cup of it to my chest when I’m cold and inhaling the woody, smokey smell.

For such a lovely smelling tea, the taste is a little too weak and mild for a lapsang. It’s decent – pleasantly smokey and very warming. However, it is a little…thin tasting, especially for a smokey tea. I am very surprised that they are calling this the strongest and smokiest of the Lapsangs because it is actually fairly mild. Steeping for longer just gives the smokey quality more of a chemical taste rather than any real strength.

While I do like it, I am left feeling that I am missing something from it. It comes on well, but it fades too quickly, leaving without any real impact. I was hoping for something a little more robust feeling, which it seems to hint at but never quite delivers.

This is a really lovely mint tea. Both the mint and the gunpowder green tea flavours come out in this really well. The green tea isn’t bitter, but the little bit of astringency mixes with the sweetness of the mint and turns this into a very smooth drink that somehow manages to be both refreshing and relaxing.

The pearls have a very strong and nice jasmine scent, but the taste is more mild and not overpowering. A very pleasant and enjoyable jasmine tea. Not at all soapy. The jasmine seems to work with the tea rather than over it.

The pearls themselves are good, but not the greatest I have seen. They do break up into little pieces more than I would like with a tea such as this. I like to just add a few pearls to my cup, add water, drink, and add more water as needed with teas like this, but all the little broken leaf pieces make it more difficult than it is with more intact pearls. Still, most of the leaves are fairly whole.

I received a sample of this with an order. I did not expect to enjoy it much since I had tried a milk oolong before and not cared for it. However, despite expecting to find it not to my taste, this tea has blown me away, and now I wish that I had ordered some. I am delighted and appreciative that I am getting to try a sample of this as I doubt I ever would have picked it up on my own, and it is definitely a gem.

The first steep was exceptional – rich, smooth, and creamy. This is very much one of those teas that stays with you in your mouth and throat after each sip. The second steep surprised me with how different it was, but it was also fantastic – very sweet and fruity. Subsequent steeps (I think I did 6) were all lovely, each one making me want to stop what I was doing and just enjoy the flavours of each sip.

I received a generous sample of this tea from Life in a Teacup with an order. It’s the first yellow tea I have ever tried, and I absolutely love it. It’s very mild and a little sweet and tangy. There is a peachy hint to it which was just lovely. The leaves smell fantastic and are beautiful, very needle-like.